The Chattel Farmer

Ch 5 Meet the Farbers

My mom was really proud of me! She decided that I needed an upgrade on my wrist unit so that I’d have a longer range to connect with my tablet, since she said that barns are big buildings. The next three days passed in a blur. The mag train ticket was booked, my bag was packed, and now I was on the train speeding towards my adventure. Damn! I forgot to ask my mom about the last name Farber. I still think it’s a little creepy that some guy I’ve never heard of has the exact same eyes as me and the same last name as my mom. Other than the eyes, we look completely different. Everything fit pretty easily in the suitcase because I only brought one pair of work jeans and ordered the rest from the Auto Fab center near the farm. There was even room for a box that Mr. Farber ordered delivered to my apartment. He said that the shipping fee was much lower to order it to my address. It was just a plain box with no logo so I have no idea what it is. I watched the landscape speeding by. I’d never seen so much space without any buildings – not counting looking out across the ocean from the vacation rental condo.

My destination station was even smaller than I imagined it would be. I was the only person who got off the mag train. It was smaller than the lobby of my apartment building. I walked pass the ticket kiosk, and out the sliding doors. I saw some sort of large transport vehicle sitting nearby but not much else. Just a few automatic kiosks that you can buy goods from. A noise had my head whipping back towards the transport vehicle. A door was open now and out stepped Mr. Farber! “Hey, Aaron! Glad to see you. Let’s get moving.” My suitcase was quickly loaded into the back. “Mr. Farber, uh, I know this is a stupid question but is this a truck?” My city has great public transportation and self-driving car rentals. I didn’t know anyone wealthy enough to own a personal vehicle. He smiled just a little bit but his voice was very kind when he replied “Yes, this is a flat-bed farm truck. The back is flat so different types of cargo can be transported such as bags of feed, or pieces to repair the fences.”

There was a comfortable silence. I was absorbed in looking out the windows. I could see a lot more details since the truck went a lot slower than the mag train. I’d never seen so many different kinds of green or so much of it stretching as far as I could see without any buildings. After a while, Mr. Farber started talking. He said that we were going to have dinner with his daughter at the farm house first. Then he would show me the apartment that I’d be staying in which is in the barn. After that a quick tour of the barn, then he was going to bed because he was taking care of the midnight milking. I learned that once he thought that I knew what I was doing, I’d take over the midnight milking. I wasn’t sure what to think about that.

I didn’t really have any expectations about what the farm would look like because I didn’t have time to worry about it before. The truck slowed down, and turned off the road under an arch that read “Farber Farm”. I could see a large white building off in the distance. As we got closer, I saw the large building was covered with solar panels and there were fenced areas all around the build. As the road curved around, I saw just behind the large building that I was guessing was the barn a house. It looked like something out of a historic movie. It was a white two story house, with a large wrap around porch. There were lots of windows which had black shutters on each side of the window. On the left side of the road stretched rows and rows of small trees, but behind the house you could see a long way because the green stuff was short. “Well, Aaron, we’re here.” The red door opened and a beautiful young women walked out towards us. Her creamy skin was complimented by diamond blond hair that waved midway down her back. Her light blue dress was tight around the largest most beautiful breasts I’d ever seen in real life, then flared out over her hips and stopped around the knees of her long legs.

Mr. Farber walked around the front of the truck while I stood there with my mouth open. “Daddy!” She squealed. Her true blue eyes lit up and she happily skipped over to Mr. Farber and threw her arms around his neck for a hug. A real smile cracked his face “How was your day, Mary?” They separated, and she said “I had a good day! Getting ready for the dinner kept me busy.” Then they turned towards me. “Mary, I want you to meet Aaron Greene. I hope he’s going to help out at the barn this summer. Aaron, this is my only daughter Mary.” I keep my eyes on her face, and stretch out my hand towards her “Nice to meet you Mary. I hope I can be a big help but I know I have a lot to learn.” They both smile at me. I’m suddenly grateful for my mom nagging me about having proper manners.

Dinner was really good. It seemed like everyone was pretty hungry so there wasn’t much talking at first. The other two chatted a little bit about farm stuff but I didn’t really understand much of what they were saying. There was a small garden style salad, the most delicious rolls I’ve ever had with the richest butter, and a hearty lasagna. Lasagna is one of my favorite Auto Chef meals but this one seemed even better than what I’m used to. “Mary, this is one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Lasagna is my favorite Auto Chef meal. You must have a great model because this is better than what I have at home.” She blushed a little and looked down. “Thank you, Aaron. We only have a mini Auto Chef. I made everything myself.” My jaw dropped open. Mr. Farber added “The salad is from the farm garden and greenhouse and the butter is from a double cream Chattel that I keep for most of our dairy needs. Mary worked really hard to learn how to make bread from scratch and I got to say it’s even better than my mother’s. I’m really proud of you.” Mary blushed harder, “Oh, Daddy that really means a lot to me. I ended up having enough time to make some ice cream that’s partly from Snow, our double cream. It’s the best ice cream ever!” It was just a simple vanilla ice cream but Mary was right. It was the best I’d ever tasted. Now that my stomach was really full, I was feeling sleepy after a long day.